Britain has not yet decided on final Brexit aims: Hammond

LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday that the government had not yet decided what it wants from a final Brexit agreement with the European Union because it is still waiting to clear preliminary negotiations with Brussels.

“The cabinet has had general discussions about our Brexit negotiations but we haven’t had a specific mandating of an end-state position,” Hammond told lawmakers in Britain’s parliament.

He was responding to a question from a member of parliament who asked if the government had a definite position on what it wanted from Britain’s relationship with the EU after Brexit which is scheduled to happen in March 2019.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s top ministers have shown big differences over what Brexit should mean for Britain and over the extent of concessions that the country should offer in return for preferential access to the EU’s single market.

Hammond said a group of key government ministers would deal with the issue once Britain is given the green light by other EU countries that it can proceed with negotiations for a new, post-Brexit trade deal.

That green light is on hold pending an agreement from the bloc that Britain has done enough on the terms of its divorce which is stuck on differences over the future border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“We are not yet at that stage and it would have been premature to have that discussion until we reach that stage,” Hammond told parliament’s Treasury Committee.

May hopes to secure the launch of the second phase of the Brexit negotiations when she meets other EU leaders next week but she suffered a setback this week when her allies in a political party from Northern Ireland objected to proposals for post-Brexit rules for the border with Ireland.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.